KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — The ringgit is likely to trend higher next week in the range of RM4.16 to RM4.17, with the market adopting a cautious stance prior to Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) economic assessment on Thursday.
Bank Islam Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said all eyes would be on BNM’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Jan 20.
“Investors might want to digest the latest economic assessment by BNM via the Monetary Policy Statement, which will be released on the same day. I suppose there will be more guidance on how the monetary policy will be administered this year,” he told Bernama.
He also added that the support level for the ringgit against the US dollar stood at RM4.1498.
The ringgit trended higher throughout the trading week just ended except for Friday.
It finished the week at 4.1765/1795 against the greenback compared with 4.2070/2080 at the previous Friday’s close.
However, the local currency traded lower against other major currencies on the Friday-to-Friday basis.
It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1045/1070 from 3.0958/0981 on the previous Friday and weakened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.6675/6704 from 3.6320/6336.
The ringgit also fell versus the euro to 4.7846/7880 from 4.7602/7640 a week earlier and decreased against the British pound to 5.7339/7380 from 5.6999/7037.
— Bernama
